Kutkh
Also called Kutkha, Kutq.
In the folklore of the Itelmen and Koryak peoples of Siberia's Kamchatka Peninsula, Kutkh is a raven creator-trickster whose antics shaped the world even as his foolishness undid his own schemes.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Itelmen and Koryak folklore
- Region
- Kamchatka Peninsula (place of origin)Arctic (habitat)
- Trait family
- The Tricksters
Near this figure
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Behaviour
- Shapeshifts animal to human and back
why
He can shift between raven and human form and is credited with the cunning to trick stronger animals out of food or possessions.
- Trickster outwits larger foes
why
He can shift between raven and human form and is credited with the cunning to trick stronger animals out of food or possessions.
Utility powers
- Shapeshifting
why
He can shift between raven and human form and is credited with the cunning to trick stronger animals out of food or possessions.
- Creation
why
His powers center on creation and transformation: in some tellings Kutkh forms the Kamchatkan landscape, sets the rivers running and stocks them with fish, and brings fire or daylight to the first people.
- Trickery and cunning
why
He can shift between raven and human form and is credited with the cunning to trick stronger animals out of food or possessions.
- Terrain shaping
why
Notable myth cycles include his theft of daylight or fire for the benefit of humankind, his contests of wit with other animals such as the fox, and his role in a flood or world-shaping episode in which his actions inadvertently produce the landscape's rivers and mountains.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Father carries both readings
1 citation
- Maria Leach, editor, Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend, s.v. "Big-Raven."
- Hero carries
1 citation
- Maria Leach, editor, Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend, s.v. "Big-Raven."
- Trickster carries both readings
1 citation
- Maria Leach, editor, Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend, s.v. "Big-Raven."
- Wise Old Man carries
1 citation
- Maria Leach, editor, Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend, s.v. "Big-Raven."